Week after week, Baylor has gained ground on the elite of the BCS pack in the human polls, and now sits .001 points behind No. 3 Ohio State in the rankings. Now, it’s style points for Baylor and Ohio State — two teams hoping No. 1 Alabama and/or No. 2 Florida State loses down the stretch.

But this back and forth for the No. 3 spot won’t be over if Baylor can win at No. 10 Oklahoma State next week in Stillwater. Ohio State could take the spot right back if the Buckeyes beat surging Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game on the last week of the season.

The Buckeyes could conceivably be No. 4 heading into the final week of the season, and jump to No. 2 — if Alabama or FSU loses — ahead of Baylor by beating Michigan State.

That’s why winning impressively matters. Why allowing lowly Illinois to score 35 points doesn’t help Ohio State’s resume. Why Baylor must make this week’s game at Oklahoma State stick in the minds of voters, especially with throwaway games against TCU and Texas remaining — while Ohio State plays a big rivalry game (at Michigan) and a conference championship game at the same time.

Undervalued

No. 2 Florida State. It’s an easy argument that FSU should be No.1 ahead of Alabama — even though the Tide has a better overall resume. But the way FSU has dominated teams week after week has to be part of the equation. There are no Mississippi State sleepwalks for the ‘Noles, who have scored at least 41 points every game this season.

No. 14 UCLA. Bruins hit a funk midway through the season and played horribly on offense in back-to-back weeks against Stanford and Oregon. By horribly, we mean poor play calling and poor execution — against two good defenses. Not a good combination. Watch this team win out and win the Pac-12.

Overvalued

No. 5 Oregon. This is not the same team with a hobbled Marcus Mariota at quarterback. With a healthy Mariota, Oregon is the third-best team in the nation. With a dinged Mariota, the Ducks can’t win the Pac-12.

No. 9 Stanford. If losing to one unranked team (Utah) wasn’t enough, Stanford went and did it again by losing to USC. So what did voters do? They leave the Cardinal in the top 10, of course. Stanford now needs an Oregon loss to get back in the Pac-12 North Division race, something that certainly is probable – but not likely.